Disclaimer: I do not own Taimanin series.
Five Days Break – 11
Running towards the end of a tree limb, Kotaro jumped off and spun around in midair. His hands slapped together in a quick succession of movements.
Serpent. Ram. Monkey. Boar. Horse. Tiger.
[Fire Art: Great Fireball]
The right eye without a name subtly lit up. Yet, to Kuchiki, nothing about that mysterious visual display had been changed. Small streams of Taima particles circled Kotaro's body as he took a deep breath in midair and blew the concentrated energy out of the mouth. Through the loosely gripping fist put in front of his face, the large orb made of flame launched at the chasing horde. The great fireball burned and melted all that humanoid figures standing in its way. Kuchiki, who was moving behind the group, dodged the blazing ball by jumping to another tree limb. His jaw tensed up, teeth grinded in boiling anger as the flame vaporized one of the many limbs of the Great Ashen Tree.
"Stop that! Stop hurting my Great Tree!"
Kotaro won't stop. All trace of mercy to Kuchiki and his so-called deity was long gone the moment Kotaro acknowledged the danger he could bring to the world.
Using Wind Art, Kotaro rushed through the falling charred corpses of the wood creatures. One-handed seal pointed at Kuchiki, he spew another flaming orb. The ashen monster was a short distance away from the enlarging ball of fire. Kuchiki couldn't dodge, however, he wouldn't be able to get out of its striking range in time. Just like the previous attack, the fireball exploded, leaving giant crater on the tunnel wall and burned away another tree limb.
"I SAID STOP!"
Kuchiki burst out from the lower level of the tree roots. At his top speed, the enraged mad man dashed to where Kotaro was about to land. As if knowing the exact location beforehand, that right eye glared straight at Kuchiki's face. It managed to follow him at the kind of speed normal eyesights couldn't keep track. Kuchiki threw a straight punch, no pulling back and fully intended to kill. Kotaro was still in the air, his feet was only an arm reach away from the surface. Kuchiki made sure the instant-kill attack would connect before his shoes even touches the ground. Kotaro didn't have enough force to twist his body and absorb the punch, it was almost impossible to dodge his head out of the way of that coming fist.
However, the Inu hand sign was already done. A gust of wind gathered inside his palm. Kotaro struck the empty air at the side and rolled his torso over Kuchiki's extending arm with the handmade momentum. As the instant-kill punch grazed over his hair by a margin, Kotaro brought down a leg, the back of his feet bashed in the top of Kuchiki's hardened head. The ashen monster fell with a dent in its skull.
Then, Kotaro quickly turned to a new direction, right eye tracked down an invisible existence not yet defined by the norm. Heels spun on the spot, Kotaro chased after it. Right there! The thing he saw just stopped in that exact location! He made his way past a couple wood creatures rising from within the root and aimed for a single spot within the view.
One arm cocked back, fist formed, speed didn't slow down. Kotaro cared none about the recoil that was about to hit his body. He got the right technique in mind to deal with that toughed layer of the root.
[Shinohara Mari's Style: Hardened Fist]
Elbow straightened. Tightly gripped fist thrust forward, Kotaro smashed through the solid. He used just enough strength to make a small hole and pulled out Kuchiki, who blossomed from another vessel buried inside the root. With his neck being clutched by an inhumane strength, the ashen monster had no way to break out.
"W-What sort of power is this!? Impossible! You never possessed this kind of strength before!"
He never was. The amount of surreal pressure wrapping around Kuchiki's neck wasn't Fuuma Kotaro's actual strength. It belonged to someone who was half-human.
[Onisaki Kirara's Style: Oni's Strength]
"Y-Young man! You're not a half-oni, are you!?"
"Drop the façade." Kotaro sternly said. "Where's Ingrid?"
Kuchiki groaned in annoyance. This much won't faze him so easily as he still had the advantages in numbers and the pseudo-immortal ability. He would keep coming back.
"You keep trying to make me spill the bean." Kuchiki's demeanor shifted. "I can't do that. She is worthy to serve our great deity. We've never had such a high-quality vessel for over hundred of years."
Kotaro continued to stare into the monster's eyes. A smugged look formed on Kuchiki's face despite his anger was still there. There was nothing consistent about this man asides from his self-deluded conviction.
"As for you. Oh, you will receive punishment in due time, young man. WHEN I GOT YOU BY THE THROAT! I promise you that. You know you can't stop me even with all that flashy ninja moves and new-found strength. I am the Great Ashen Tree's avatar, I will continue to rebirth and blossom until the day spring comes forth to embrace our souls."
Another horde was approaching from behind Kotaro. More and more creatures appeared around the place. Kuchiki planned to overwhelm his prey with numbers.
"There is nowhere else to run from here."
Slowly, the pressure around Kuchiki's throat lessened as Kotaro let go, his arm fell back to the side, right eye remained keen on observing the monster's triumph expression. Kuchiki smiled and took that as a sign of resignation.
"That's it. Surrender obediently and the Great Tree will find in itself the sympathy to judge you with kindness. Prostrate yourself, repent for the damages you had brought to our deity and perhaps I may be willing to lessen the punishment."
The right eye widened, not from shock or out of horror. It simply looked directly into Kuchiki's eyes and saw something in there, a very faint traces of a swirling wave of energy. It wasn't a part of Kuchiki's being, it wasn't acting as the sole reason to his otherworldly ability. The energy was a pale contrast to the ashen monster's existence, it had a crimson color and little of its remnant was covering the deformed figure of his consciousness. Right around the "scar," which Kotaro had seen.
"Crimson Taima particles." Kotaro muttered once he understood the nature of that swirling wave.
The instance Kuchiki's ears caught those words, the smugged grin on his face switched to a ghastly shade. Letting out a roar, he broke through the hardened root, both arms thrown out to catch the young man. Just as fast, Kotaro darted away from his reach. The closest wood creature lunged forward under a desperate command, it tried to seize Kotaro only to be counter-grabbed and tossed to Kuchiki's direction. The monster swatted his minion out of the way like a mere ant and continued to charge ahead. Other wood figures began to come at the young Taimanin in sync.
Kotaro changed stance and struck the ground with his palm. The giant root shook as if an earthquake swiped over the world.
SNAP!
For a second, that distinct sound echoed louder than the raging noises around Kotaro. The tree limb broke off from the main body much to Kuchiki's shock. There was nothing significant about Kotaro's palm-strike, he couldn't feel any shockwave coming from it. It barely carried an ouch of strength and yet the action resulted in this. The Great Ashen Tree had withstood every type of natural disasters over the expand of thousand years, no reason a small earthquake could manage to bring down one of its limbs. But it did, this moment actually happened. The sight in front of his very eyes gave a heavy blow to Kuchiki's unshakable belief.
Everything started falling. Kuchiki held onto the ground, hands and fingers dig deep into the roughed skin of the root as he watched the still branches flashing by and above his head. With a lighter body, the rest of his minions were left stranded in the air. The weight of the giant root propped for a greater falling speed.
No! Something was not right. It was dropping really fast! It crashed into the branches and roots below and broke through their endurance. The abnormal weight of the falling root snapped other limbs like a thousand tonnes metal pipe plunging down multiple wood layers. Pieces from the crack split apart and fell off. Huh? Even though they were barely the size of his palm, they didn't go up? It-It can't be! They were falling at the same speed! The relative mass of the root had been changed!?
"YOU!" Kuchiki screamed at Kotaro, who was holding onto the root with little effort. "WHAT DID YOU DO!?"
[Watarase Tsumugi's Style: Weight Shifting]
By applying Tsumugi's Weight Art on the tree root to manipulate its mass, Kotaro successfully disrupted the battleground where Kuchiki's reliance on his minions is his most dangerous advantage. At this moment, it was one of the few choices Kotaro could use, the solid bottom at the depth of the tunnel can deal with Kuchiki and the extra one billion tonnes tree root.
"Don't even think of escaping!"
Seeing Kotaro jump off, Kuchiki kicked the ground and launched himself into the air. Arms extended wide and ready to capture the disrespectful Taimanin. There would be a chokehold, a bone-crushing blow to the chest, then Kuchiki would rip up that young man to shreds as an offering to the Great Ashen Tree. Kotaro once again rotated midair to avoid the catch, he made it over Kuchiki's shoulders. One hand shot out and gripped the back of the ashen monster's neck, Kotaro was about to throw him back down.
"Think again!"
The voice came from above, disturbingly sounded exactly like the monster himself. Kotaro's head shot up, right eye caught the menacing smile among the faceless heads of the falling wood creatures. Kuchiki had swapped with another vessel in the nick of time, what Kotaro was holding was now an empty corpse.
"You can't dodge this!"
To his words, all the vessels focused on Kotaro and raised their arms. Kuchiki wanted an all-out assault as they went into a dive. Kotaro pulled up the abandoned vessel and shielded himself from the coming attack. The simultaneously hits and many wood creatures diving past without regard to the consequence of crashing into the bottom left Kotaro without a chance to escape. They came in waves, rapidly rushing from the top to bottom. He was trapped within an accelerate waterfall made of wood logs.
"GOT YOU!"
From inside the gap between the diving creatures, Kuchiki shot out and landed a hit into the temporary shield, snapping the empty vessel in half. With both leg wrapped around Kotaro's waist, Kuchiki launched a barrage of fist slams, elbows and punches into the chest, stomach and face.
"Got you! Got you! Got you! Got you! Got you! Got you! Got you! Got you! Got you!"
Half-insane, half-excited voice echoed during the repeated one-sided beating. It only stopped when they finally hit the bottom. Both sunk deep into the mass made of body parts. Kuchiki's current vessel broke apart on impact while Kotaro lost underneath the pile of corpses. At the mountainous pile not far away, a wooden body which was still intact rose up. Kuchiki popped out the crack on its chest and crackled madly as he rushed back to where they just crashed. The spot was easy to find, as the impact made a big crater out of the wood creatures' body parts. He jumped high then brought his fists into the center of that crater.
Smash! Smash! Smash!
"I got you! I got yo-AH!? Oh dear, I lost my composure." Kuchiki shook his head. "I need to calm down for a bit. It took a while, but the minor disturbance has been dealt with."
He turned to the grand view of the Great Ashen Tree's root and spread his arms like he wanted to hug that wonderful scenery.
"O' Great Tree! Have you witnessed my achievement? I've made that foolish youngster pay the price for bringing harm to your precious body. Don't worry, we can fix all of this. We can use the essence of that Hell Knight woman to heal those wounds and bring us back to the golden era!"
Attention shifted to the achievement which he boasted, Kuchiki began digging up to find the remain of the young man who had defied the blessing of a lifetime.
"Now, what to do with you? I can bury you with the rest of the devotees, or keep you inside a cocoon and make you one of the containers since you had such an intriguing eye. Hm, hm. Quite a lot of toughed choices to pick since you also committed sin to our deity."
For a while, he kept digging up the body. However, there was no sign of a bloody face with deep blue hair, no sign of red fluid splashing in any place. Then, he found a block of wood. It didn't fit into anywhere with the remaining pile of corpses. It didn't have a humanoid shape or an ashen color. It was just a simple block chopped off a normal tree and somehow ended up down here, buried in the middle of the body parts. The marks and dents around the trunk indicated it had been repeatedly hit by a strong force.
"Wait a minute." Kuchiki muttered under his breath.
He recognized these marks, they were his doing. They were supposed to be on the body of that young man, not a piece of wood! But how!? If he wasn't here, then where!? Damn it! The little rascal used this to mask his flee.
Kuchiki glared at the darkness above and opened his mouth.
"Fuuma Kotaro!"
A large shockwave shot out and struck nothing in that empty space. Yet, his scream continued to rebound along the vast underground tunnel.
Split seconds before Kuchiki's deadly wrath came at him, a certain name appeared in his mind. It was an ability most useful during deadly moments where one critical hit can leave one in a harmful state or worst.
Body Replacement Technique. It allows the user to substitute themselves with anything that can misdirect the enemy into mistaking the replaced objects for them. Substitution Arts were not that common among Taimanin clans. Since the ancient period, abilities and techniques with similar concept existed and divided into different categories. For a tactical approach, the technique was used for distraction or lure the enemy into traps. This can be done through preparation. As a technique that requires Taima particles, it was more or less related to the supernatural characteristic of the Ninja Art.
[Koukawa Oboro's Style: Cicada Shell]
Kotaro had always been familiar with the name. Cicada Shell was the closest thing he could remember about the former head of the Koukawa clan. Despite him not knowing them personally, the experience he had with their ability emerged within the stream of accumulated knowledge. Such was a strange occurrence to Kotaro since he had never seen the way Cicada Shell work and only read about it in Gosha Library. It was there among the experience that shouldn't have existed in the right eye.
The instance Kotaro's gaze landed on a small branch sticking over the ledge, he found himself swapped out in a blur. Back in his original spot, the tree branch was lost in the storming assault between Kuchiki's enraged punches and the wood creatures.
Cicada Shell was a unique ability unlike others. It wasn't listed as a Soul Art, yet it needed the user to transfer their soul to another place. It didn't share the same mechanism with Teleportation Arts even though it allows the user to swap place with other things for misdirection. Accuracy and timing were the essential factors of this technique.
The downside, using it will result in the user's lifespan reduction. This art possessed that kind of shortcoming, abusing it too much and the effect would show in the long run. Regardless of the side-effect, Kotaro didn't feel the changes in his body. His movements adapted to the substitution jutsu so naturally like it was his own without suffering the drawbacks entirely. Debuff Nullification seemed to be part of the power possessed within the right eye. At least for now, that was the way it looked. For precaution, Kotaro preferred not to rely on the jutsu unless the situation demanded for desperate measures.
He didn't have enough time to process all the pieces of info given. There wasn't just one train of thoughts, dozen of them were active, taking the definition of multi-tasking to another level in his head. The feeling can be described like watching large stacks of books of various genre poured over the ground, waiting to be put on the empty shelves and Kotaro had to organize everything while he went through each page to take in the amount of knowledge that wasn't supposed to exist inside his head. When this is over, he needs to sit down and sort them out. It was a wonder he managed to concentrate so well during the fight with Kuchiki, maybe it had something to do about having a determination. Kotaro would stop that monster using everything he has right in the dormant of the Great Ashen Tree.
After successfully escaping Kuchiki's constant assault, Kotaro made his way back to the surface. When he finally climbed up the long, narrowed rift caused by a giant branch that had stayed motionless above a wide area of the forest, Kotaro realized his current location was a long way from the foot of the Ashen Tree. Going to the highest place he could find which was the top of the enormous branch, he examined the distance.
Among the rising tree limbs that looked like frozen waves in a sea of leaves, Kotaro could see the gigantic figure and the ruined site of the hidden town where smokes were rising. The Great Tree was about the size of his hand. That was how far he'd drifted after the long drop into the underground tunnel below the inn. The night sky remained darkened, moonlight lost behind the clouds. Dawn won't come in a couple hours.
Kotaro shot a quick glance around the view, searching for a tiny dot moving somewhere along the night sky. With this awakened eyesight, he could never miss the strobe lights from the drone.
There! Blinking signals.
Right eye squinted, a specific location in the sky zoomed into his vision like tuning a binocular. The drone was somewhat struggling against the strong breezes. However, it continued to stay on course at a sturdy pace. It had traveled a good distance to the outskirt of the forest. Once the battery died, no matter the location it landed, the emergency smoke and GPS distress call will kick in on automatic.
The ground began shaking, trees rustled loudly as another giant limb broke through the earth. The entire forest had become that tree's territory at this point. No doubt it would spread to the other towns located on the other side of those mountains.
Kotaro could use an Art that heavily emphasizes on speed to get out of here and call reinforcement instead of waiting for somebody to pick up the drone. While the nameless Evil Eye still opened, he could use Rinko-senpai's Void Art to skip the hassle of crossing a long distance. Although, the bigger the distance between two points, the more advanced and complicated the activation will become. It would take too much time and consume an unnecessary amount of Taima energy. It usually took one minute or thirty second at best to teleport to the wanted location. Unless he was at a safe place, the technique was too risky to perform.
Since Kuchiki and the Great Ashen Tree were beings from another world, Kotaro preferred to conserve his energy any time possible to counter those things' unpredictable nature. He gained access to all the techniques of the Task Force members, but there was the limit to his Taima pool. He couldn't afford to spend it so carelessly.
Well, it wasn't like he intent to go in the opposite direction anyway. He had a reason not to walk away from this battle. He had to get to his companion as quick as he could.
Kotaro jumped and slid down the steep slope along the body of the tree branch. There was no shortcut for him to take as this was one linear trip straight to that tree. He would keep running on top the branch and avoid the forest below. The place had many blind spots, bad idea to slip and fall down. He won't bother wasting time going on the offensive and take down enemies left and right like the others back home, that was never his style. He needed to get himself a weapon. The kunai retrieved from the underground won't be enough against the wood creatures. It was a good thing to know beforehand the hidden town has been keeping a certain gift throughout hundred of years. That would aid him in reaching Ingrid.
Wood creatures appeared along the way. Kotaro had expected it. Lines constricted of unknown matters naked eyes couldn't detect were moving inside the branch. When concentrated enough, they looked like a small pond of energy. They took the shapes and sizes of the vessels and made them come to life.
He speeded past them, evaded their grab and stepped one on the head, using them for extra height in the next jump. Occasionally, Wind Art blended in for better propelling force and longer distance. Hand seals done every time before landing and Kotaro repeated the steps by jumping on top the next creature and pushed himself into the air. Zero combat engagement and minimum stamina usage, those humanoid logs weren't much of a threat when scattered.
This wasn't Kuchiki's doing, Kotaro was sure about it as the lines stretching clearly all the way to that giant existence. They moved like strings attaching to puppets. The Ashen Tree by itself reanimated them to prevent him from reaching it. It finally viewed Kotaro as a potential threat. Then, a separate string shot up from the ground. It went through the earth and reached past the tree lines, swift and flexible like a fishing line. Not good! Kuchiki was activating the rebirth ability, he went for a vessel inside this branch.
Kotaro threw a shuriken in front of that invisible line. Hand signs performed just in time the Taima enhanced weapon connected it.
[Tachibana Serika's Style: Sealing Zone]
With little modifications, Serika's Seal Art can resize its range to a smaller zone instead of the usual three kunai coordinations. In this case, a shuriken was enough, it triggered an area which cut off the invisible line and canceled out Kuchiki's ability. This only worked temporary.
For a while, Kotaro kept dodging the wood creatures while channeling Taima particles into anything he could use to stop Kuchiki's attempt of switching to a new body. Even if it meant he has to tear off one of the creatures' arm and threw it in front of those invisible lines. Kuchiki was fully aware of the location due to the Ashen Tree connection. Those things wanted a direct confrontation, and Kotaro won't let them get that chance.
He was half-way to the destination when the ground started shaking again. One of the giant limbs lifted up to the sky and moved to his location. It was about to crash down on him. From the wood creatures, the resistance had turned into a single large scale attack. Kotaro realized he couldn't dodge this, the collision impact afterward would throw him off for good. If he stops right now and sticks to the ground, he will be caught by the creatures moving inside the tree. Even if he managed to evade the capture, the giant limb ahead would become too big of a wall to climb past.
Faster! He has to go faster! He needs to abandon all redundant motions to build up more force after each step! He got to be ready before the collision occurs!
Kotaro put his hands together and quickly thought of an ability he could use to make one big jump. Efficient speed with little muscles tension is a must for this to work.
Take advantage of the impact to establish good momentum. Avoid using Arts to conserve energy for the inevitable battle. Think about a Taimanin who has complete mastery over their muscles movement. With this right eye, Kotaro surely could do it. He just needs to come up with a capable individual who can pull off the feat, what they did and how they did it.
Shiranui-san always moves like water. She has flexibility and strength but lacks the necessary speed as she relies more on the nature of her Art. Murasaki-sensei has firmed posture and her motions gleaming with strength, she lacks the proper speed and flexibility due to the need of building up the power in every strike. Su is nimble and her unique Art can help her fly, but that will result in too much Taima energy spending on Kotaro own pool. Rinko-senpai, Asuka and Saika have everything in their moves, flexibility, speed and strength. Even so, it's not enough. That giant branch was triple the size of Gosha Academy building, Kotaro's stamina would dry up if he used their styles.
Maybe…..maybe it didn't have to be about muscles movement. He just had to combine together a series of basic motions that produces better haste while using less physical effort.
Conservative yet powerful. Agile but firm. Flexible and swift. It has to be just that. To be able to do a high jump that can get him past that thing in one go, he needs absolute mastery over basic motions.
The giant branch began to descend for an earth-shattering collision.
"You came here quite early today, Fuuma-kun."
Instead of that bizarre sight, the image of the holographic training room flashed before Kotaro. It was around the time a figure in purple battle suit skipped the length of the whole room in a blink of an eye.
"I decided to warm up since no one was here yet. But it seems I went overboard for a bit. You caught a glimpse of my true speed. This is going to be a secret between us, okay?"
He saw how she kicked the ground before pushing her speed into overdrive with ease. It started with some quick steps going forward on the ball of the foot and she soon vanished into the air, leaving a faint image of herself behind. At the far end, her silhouette remained still a blur like a mirage as if the world had yet to register Asagi-sensei's absence in that spot. She had covered that huge distance in mere seconds.
"I wonder will there ever be the day you can match my view."
Kotaro didn't think much about her words. It sounded half-teasing and half-serious at the moment.
"I'll do my best to reach there. Not sure how long it will take me though."
When he thought about his own reply from back then, it came off as him just rolling along with her teasing.
"Take as long as you need. I'll look forward to that moment, Fuuma-kun."
Kotaro remembered the way Asagi-sensei giggle sweetly at him while saying those words. She put it in a way that made it look like he has a promise to keep, even though Kotaro'd never really meant it due to his position.
Ten seconds before impact.
Kotaro loosened the tensions around his shoulders. Arms swung with steady rhythms, feet landed on heels and pushed forward on tip-toes. These steps were off the mark, Kotaro noticed. The balls of his feet were supposed to touch the ground and lift off from there.
Five seconds before impact.
Pressure from the dropping tree branch invaded the atmosphere. His ears were ringing. Kotaro wanted to grit his teeth but any unintended tension could easily disrupt the build up. He needed to be calm, observe the situation and seize the decisive moment.
Two seconds before impact.
Those words which he thought he could never live up to were coming into reality. The wind rushed harshly against his hair and face. Body movements in sync with each other. A part of the sky, the ground and the forest below zipped past Kotaro's vision in an explosion of lines converging together before it returned to normal in the next instance. The right eye without a name caught up to the current tempo so quickly. But this wasn't anywhere near Asagi-sensei's true speed. Kotaro increased his pace.
Faster. FASTER! GO FASTER!
CRASH!
The deafening sound roared.
At the same time, the right eye without a name lit up.
Much to Kotaro's oblivion, a wavy-liked aura leaked out. It may have not been real, although it may seem to be. Its pure white and translucent nature started to change shape, formed into the closest memory in his mind. By his side, the slender figure resembling a woman was matching Kotaro's action and speed. It was there to amplify everything he needed for a single moment.
Finally, Kotaro pushed his speed into overdrive. Just like how he once saw Asagi-sensei did.
[Igawa Asagi's (…...) - Synchronized]
Suddenly, Asagi felt a jolt.
She rested a hand to her chest. Her heart was beating normally, and yet Asagi couldn't shake off the thought that something just changed within her. She had no way to point her finger at these emotions and describe it. If she had to say it, the feeling would be something like a part of her had gone to a different place and returned shortly.
She stole a quick glance at the Task Force members who were sitting in their designated seats as they focused on the mission's briefing with eager expression. Next to a hologram displayed at the center of the room, Saika was revealing the details of the search and rescue mission based on the completed map Amane provided. The team had just departed from Gosha not that long on a customed military aircraft.
"What's the matter?" The newest team member who took the nearby seat asked.
"No." Asagi shook her head. "It's nothing. I just felt something flashed before my eyes, that's all. Maybe I should take some rest like the others'd said."
For a split second, the image of a giant tree branch descending from the sky appeared in her view. It vanished the exact moment when the big limb collided with another one before Asagi could even comprehended what happened.
"By the way, this is the third time you've participated in a Task Force's mission. How do you feel, Eleonor?"
"I'm a bit nervous." The dark elf smiled sheepishly. "And I didn't expect to hear our Captain is in danger."
"Fuuma-kun is a clever boy, he will do fine." Asagi nodded. "We just need to reach him in time."
As Asagi and Eleonor turned their attention back to the briefing, Saika was touching her earbud and listened closely.
"We just received new info. Apparently, there's a surge of disaster reports around the region. Multiple hit from short-term earthquakes throughout the night and it shows no sign of stopping. They said the source came from the forest where the hidden town of the Great Ashen Tree is located."
"A new concern." Asagi muttered softly. "This couldn't be a coincidence."
"Um." Eleonor spoke up. "Does this means the situation is really bad?"
"Most likely." Su got off her seat and gave instructions. "Let us wrap up the meeting, Saika-san. All members, check your equipment and make sure you are fully prepared before we arrived at the destination. This appears to be more than just a simple search and rescue mission. "
Everyone was thinking the same thing. The aircraft began to go full speed ahead rose above the dark clouds.
Light shone through the window shield and Asagi took in the view outside. She had no interest in sightseeing. She just watched the moon and hoped nothing serious would happen to that boy.
Kotaro caught a full sight of the moon as forces from the collision blew away a portion of the gloomy sky. He was up in the air, surpassed the height of the obstacle which was three times Gosha Academy, almost as high as he could grab the biggest star if he stretched out his arms. He glanced down at the big mess below. The wreck between two gigantic branches shattered the earth and caused a large rift stretching along the body of the surface.
For a short moment, the right eye did something. Kotaro touched it with a startle as he just realized the trigger a bit too late. But it'd already stopped. He turned around to see if there was someone running next to him just now. But there was none. It was unreal, Kotaro felt someone had appeared next to him. He truly felt Asagi-sensei's presence just now. Still, she wasn't here.
It made no sense. What would the sudden raise in his Taima energy add up to? It wasn't originally this much.
Kotaro had no idea about this phenomenon, it wasn't included in the accumulated experience. This was something entirely new to him.
Crack!
Kotaro shoved the concern to the back of his mind and carefully watched the figure standing on top the collapsed branches.
It was Kuchiki, and he didn't appear in a new vessel. He'd switched to the old body, he was wearing the Taima bodysuit of the deceased Taimanin who was killed some decades ago. It was one of Kuchiki's trump cards, the rotted containers of which he fonded the most.
"FUUMA KOTARO!"
He didn't yell that name with the usual menacing smile. His face made the angriest scowl Kotaro'd ever seen. The shock from that monster's voice hit him, but it barely caused any effect thanks to the distance. Kuchiki bent down, pushed his feet to the ground and made a big jump, shooting upward like an arrow.
"Your punishment is due!"
Kotaro didn't bother to retort and formed a hand sign. He had plenty of Taima particles to use this time.
"I'll start with both of your hands! BREAK!"
Kuchiki had good aim, he was coming right at him in midair. Kuchiki outstretched his arms, fingers twisted like wild animal's claws. In return, Kotaro pointed back with the finger gun style.
[Fire Art: Great Fireball]
An intense heat wave unleashed from Kotaro's mouth, flying towards Kuchiki.
"It won't work against this body!" The monster claimed with absolute confidence.
After pushing through the giant heat ball with the hardened body technique, Kuchiki saw no one. Kotaro was no longer there. Kuchiki's eyes went wide when a gust of wind rushed over his body from behind. He spun around to see an upside-down Kotaro pointing the finger gun at him. Kotaro had used Wind Art to changed his own trajectory, causing Kuchiki to go off the mark.
"Then this will work."
At Kotaro's words, the right eye turned a darker shade. In Kuchiki's eyes, that visual display appeared like a pitch-black dot expanding over the young Taimanin's face, he still couldn't understand if his own vision was deceiving him.
From nothingness, the dark flame originated from another world came into existence. Tiny streams concentrated at the tip of Kotaro's finger, turning into a small orb. This dangerous move could easily burn the entire forest to the ground. However, it now became the last thing Kotaro cared about. His target was in the air, right above him. Kotaro had no reason to hold back and not to shoot it up the sky. Everything was in the clear. Being trapped in the air, Kuchiki could never dodge this. Target locked on.
Kotaro took the compressed dark flame into his hand once it reached the size of a ping-pong ball. Despite touching it directly, he didn't feel burn by the heat, this was surely a unique part of Ingrid's power.
"This is going to hurt, Kuchiki." Words of guarantee firmly said. "Say goodbye to that vessel."
"YOU DAMN RASCAL!"
Kotaro took a deep breath.
[Ingrid's Style: Dark Flame]
Then, he blew all the air in his lung into that hand, and Kuchiki was unable to do anything. The dark flame burst out in a huge wave, completely swallowed the ashen monster in Taima battle suit.
In the aftermath, nothing was left of the body. Kotaro landed safely on the other side. The hidden town was right in front of his view. He turned back to look at the night sky above and watched the dark flame diminishing.
Soon, it faded into the moonlight.
/
Author's Note: Took a while to finish this chapter but here we are.
Kotaro just one-shot his enemy into oblivion thanks to a certain Hell Knight's ability, but the right eye seems to have more in store to aid him in the battle against the pseudo-immortal antagonist of the story. Hope you like the little cameo, I'm looking forward to August 1st.
Thank you for reading. Take Care!